Gardening

I love the gardening store. I mean it. I really do. I love the smells and the sights. I love wandering around looking at all the flowers. I love picking them out and planning where to put them. Truthfully I shouldn't be allowed to go without a chaperone because I always end up buying more than I plan to or need. I just can't help myself.

I went today. My plan was to get the flowers for the deck and porch planters and the flower boxes. I did...give or take a  few others. I figured since I was already there, why not pick up a couple of perennials for the front flower garden too?

My flower garden in the front really got smashed last year when my house was being painted. I mean I understood and all since they need to put the ladders on top of my plants, but it still did a number on them. I did some work last summer to try to fix it. I bought as couple of new perennials and dug up a bunch of irises that were aggressively threatening the rhododendron bush. Turned out the neighborhood cats had a real fondness for the plants I put in and mowed them down to about nothing. Quite frankly it drove my obsessively neat and organized self nuts with the unbalanced bare patches. So really I can not be blamed for splurging a bit and getting a couple of new ones. I think it is in the interest of my own mental health really. I added this...

and this...

Pretty no? Now I just hope that the cats don't have a fondness for these as well. I am also happy to report that my irises that I move last August are happy enjoying their new home and even have some buds.

And the rhododendron bush doesn't miss them one little bit.